Friday, February 19, 2010

First look at Naoko Ogigami's "Toilet"... filmed in Toronto!

by Chris MaGee

It was back in November that we reported on how "Megane (Glasses)" and "Kamome Diner" director Naoko Ogigami had managed to sneak in and out of Toronto during September and October to shoot her new film simply titled "Toilet". At that point details were pretty sketchy, but thanks to Cinema Cafe details of this homegrown project are coming to light.

"I was always hoping someday to film in North America," says the 37-year-old director who previosuly shot her 2003 film "Kamome Diner" in Helsinki, Finland. With "Toilet", which Ogigami also wrote, she got her chance. The film tells the story of an unlikely trio of siblings - a nerd who's obsessed with plastic models (Alex House), his pianist pianist brother (David Lendl), and their sister (Tatiana Mazurani), an aspiring air guitarist - who are coping with the loss of their mother. Somehow (and this remains a bit unclear) their real mother (played by Masako Motai) is in fact Japanese and comes to North America to live with them. All three of the Canadian actors were chosen after open casting calls in Toronto last year. On an added Can-Con note Caitlin Cronenberg, daughter of famed Canadian director David Cronenberg, worked on set as a still photographer. You can check out some of her work above.

Pony Canyon is set to give "Toilet" a limited theatrical release in Japan this summer, but hopefully we'll see it make the rounds of festivals in North America... and hopefully a bit of a homecoming here in Toronto.

I just finished watching this wonderful film. Without a doubt, the best film I've seen this year (2011)and that includes all the academy nominated films from 2010. Thank you Naoko, for creating this heart warming and entertaining piece of art. My daughters, who are half Japanese cried and said that they can't wait to see their Obaachan over the upcoming spring break. I have to go now and start shopping for my new toilet.